Stonington, CT Rediscovered: Job Interview

We were in the vicinity anyway and decided to revisit Stonington CT, an historic seafaring community close to the point where the usually becalmed Long Island Sound merges into and becomes Rhode Island Sound and both brackishly junct with the frequent rip currents and churning waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Like for other tourists, Water Street, a narrow corridor along it's entire one mile length constitutes what is most memorable about Stonington Village. Historic homes, churches, shops and restaurants and the only operating commercial fishing operation remaining in Connecticut. 

In my associative minds eye this section of Stonington is compared with other narrow fingers of land that stretch out to sea like City Island in N.Y., Saybrook Point in Old Saybrook, CT, Glenn Island in New Rochelle, Guilford CT Marina and Dock and the Darien Beach Approach in Darien, CT., to name only a few. But each is distinctive despite the similarity. Stonington, for example, has a beach, a museum and a broad expanse of parking with 360 degrees of sweeping water views all located at the very tip of the peninsula.

It was upon returning from the viewing spot that we came to a sign that had never been there before. The words were "Public Access" with an arrow pointing west. The passage was narrow and brought us out to a rough hewn path that wound behind the buildings fronting on Water Street and tightly followed the waters edge. There were water fowl of several varieties and where the path ended sat a delightful gazebo, from which we were able to view a waterfront restaurant. Upon closer inspection we discovered it to be Skippers Dock Seafood Restaurant, one of our favorite spots in Stonington Borough, but we had never viewed it or approached it from this angle. We subsequently learned that the path had just been completed within the last year.

It was while seated in the gazebo that we met some other visitors. Two couples had been following behind us taking pictures of the birds and the water views. We engaged them in conversation, initially about photography. As things unfolded we learned that one couple lived in Guilford while their friends had come in from Edison New Jersey. the husband, who did most of the talking , described Edison as being not unlike Fairfield CT. He talked too about the insurance problems NJ has experienced and how Insurance companies have been exiting the State. Suddenly, it occurred to me, that this guy looked familiar, but I couldn't make the connection. The more he talked the more his image reminded me of a familiar situation. I had once been interviewed for a position in NJ. It was at a small college and he bore a striking resemblance to the interviewer. Then I remembered the circumstances. He had been spouting off telling me all about how wonderful he and the college were and hardly asking me any questions at all. He was as pompous then as he was now.

In addition to his trying to impress me during that interview (speech) he also appeared to want to seem cool and, I guess, laid back. As the interview progressed he kept tipping further and further back in his swivel chair with a reclining back until he overdid it and he together with the whole shebang fell over backward and slammed onto the floor. Without hardly missing a beat he continued talking as if nothing had just happened.

That jarring memory brought me back to the present. I needed some confirmation that this was that very same clown. I said, you know Im really impressed by the way you speak and it makes me think of professors I've had in the past. Do you work at a college there in NJ. He was amazed. He explained having started out on the faculty and having progressed into administration. It turned out that his first year as an administrator was the very year I was interviewed at his college. But I decided not to say anything about that incident.